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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Soo-hyang Choi & Matt Gibson

North Korea claims it has 'defused' Covid explosion and reports zero cases of the virus

North Korea reported no new cases for the first time since it acknowledged a Covid-19 outbreak in mid-May, state-run media reported.

The country said earlier this month it was on a path to "finally defuse" its first publicly declared coronavirus crisis even as Asian neighbours experience a resurgence in infections driven by Omicron subvariants.

The official KCNA news agency said 99.99% of its 4.77 million fever patients since late April have fully recovered, but because of an apparent lack of testing, it has not released any figures on people who tested positive for the virus.

Infectious disease experts have cast doubts on North Korea's claims, with the World Health Organisation saying last month it believed the situation was getting worse, not better, amid an absence of independent data.

Members of the North Korean army supply medicine to residents at a pharmacy (via REUTERS)

KCNA said a rapid mobile treatment force is still on high alert and efforts are under way to "detect and stamp out the epidemic" until the last patient is fully recovered.

The state media said 204 fever patients were under treatment as of Friday.

Pyongyang's possible declaration of victory against Covid could be a prelude to restoring trade long hampered by the pandemic, North Korea analysts said.

Trade volume plunged 17.3 per cent to £582.87 million last year amid a strict closure of borders.

North Korea temporarily resumed freight train operations with China early this year, but suspended them again in April over heightened fears of the coronavirus spreading.

At the beginning of the month, in an apparent attempt to blame South Korea for surges in Covid cases, North Korean authorities warned people to be wary of ways that "climate phenomena" could bring the virus northwards.

There has been an order to "vigilantly deal with alien things coming by wind and other climate phenomena and balloons in the areas along the demarcation line and borders," KCNA said.

The agency did not directly mention South Korea, but North Korean defectors and activists have for decades flown balloons from the South across the heavily fortified border, carrying leaflets and humanitarian aid.

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